Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead fame are in great shape. Looks like fighting zombies makes for a good workout! But Reedus swears he doesn’t overdo it at the gym, and that his recent Men’s Fitness cover where his arms are —simply bulging with muscular prowess— is the result of “jacking up” his muscles with sandbags right before the shoot.

However much of that is true, there is the simple fact that the actor had muscles to jack up in the first place. Not all actors are so lucky. Seems he is quite modest about how in shape he really is.

Reedus, who is in his late forties, says he tries to stay in somewhat good shape for The Walking Dead (and he’s being modest again, because he is in terrific shape). He says he would look “stupid” if he took his shirt off on the show, and had a six-pack, because people would look at him and say “Ponce! Phony actor working on his abs.” Interesting perspective. Clearly, Reedus isn’t comfortable with any element of being a possible sex symbol to legions of fans.

He recalls a quote from director Joel Schumacher, who said that Reedus wasn’t a good-looking guy, interesting yes, but not good-looking per se. So Reedus uses that as his benchmark for why he would never be People’s sexiest man of the year, though many would happily argue against him and Schumacher for that matter. He doesn’t try to be that guy and doesn’t want to be that guy.

All that being said, the actor has to maintain a good physical condition to play the role of a character who can fight well, and uses a crossbow skillfully, which means a rigorous training routine. To stay in shape, Reedus runs, jumps rope, and swims. Cardio activities are also important for him. In his trailer, on down time while shooting the show, Reedus can be found doing push-ups, sit-ups, and free weights for strength training.

Andrew Lincoln’s Walking Dead Workout and Diet

Andrew Lincoln is a natural distance runner, who will do five miles in the Georgia heat without batting an eye, while most would drop from exhaustion and dehydration. He’s been known to hire a personal trainer in the past. One trainer ordered Lincoln to stop his love affair with distance running, and instead do rapid sets of free weights, move to a low carb diet, and cut sugars entirely. He still likes to run though.

The English actor takes good care of not only his physical appearance, but makes a point to work on his overall strength and agility, so he is fit in a complete package kind of way. His diet is still very clean and healthy, focusing on lean proteins, low carbs, no sugar, and lots of vegetables. Lincoln avoids unhealthy carbs and opts instead for complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potato.